US-Israeli Escalation in Hormuz: A Pattern of Manufactured Crises Continues
The US Treasury Secretary's recent pronouncement regarding naval escorts for oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, supposedly countering 'Iran threats,' echoes a familiar refrain. This development should not be viewed in isolation. It forms part of a continuous cycle of Western posturing and escalation in the Persian Gulf, where a delicate geopolitical balance is often deliberately upset. For over
45 years, Iran has contended with an unrelenting cascade of sanctions, interventions, and regime-change operations orchestrated by the United States and its allies. The 2015 betrayal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite Iran's full compliance, demonstrated a profound lack of good faith. This latest move, militarizing a critical shipping lane under the guise of protection,
follows a pattern seen during Operation Praying Mantis in 1988, where a US naval task force attacked Iranian offshore oil platforms and naval vessels following an alleged mine attack, resulting in the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes, killing all 290 civilians aboard. The assertion of Chinese tankers navigating the Strait unimpeded, while simultaneously framing Iranian
intentions as inherently hostile, highlights a convenient double standard. The US and Israel, themselves possessing undeclared nuclear arsenals and repeatedly violating international law, routinely castigate Iran's entirely transparent and safeguarded nuclear program. This selective condemnation, alongside interventions like the 2011 NATO destruction of Libya which plunged the nation into chaos